VampiressRN if we didn't have you planning the event we wouldn't have one and there wouldn't be a need for this Big Boy mug, it is you that deserves all the praise. Thank you hundreds of times for all you do.

littlegiles

Will the mold work?...not like mold number I
What happened to mold #2?...worst part it slipped
Tune in tomorrow...now it is tomorrow so I'll reveal the problems
Same Wendy time, same Dan channel...is Dan now a swear word?

hang10tiki and no re-runs

Hale Tiki way too big and way too heavy. I need GROG to make our molds.

The not so much Progress Report

I just decided to start off with the good news. This shows the inside of the mold that worked. I'll use this one for the crawl.

Now on to the horror of stupid errors through out the making of mold II.

There was one huge error on mold I. I was rasping the outer edges so that they are not sharp when I got the idea to rasp the bottom flatter. After a couple of swipes and "OH NO!" escaping my mouth I realized I was rasping an inner piece that had a bottom already poured. So I've made sure that I'll have a huge leak that will need to be plugged with clay for every pour.

There's so much that I did wrong. Dan's not responsible for the steps and planning. He's the muscle in this process. All the errors are mine.
We poured a bottom piece and when it was hard we took it off and set it aside. Wrong move. I should have left it in place so that all the sides we poured would match. But to make it lighter we took it off and used a board. So of course that made the piece we poured worthless.
Carrying on with the worthless mold II we poured one side.
Then we flipped it and poured the other side. When we flipped it the mold slipped loose of the sculpt. We got it back in place, nope that's wrong, we thought we got it back in place. After we poured the next piece we found that with the straps off it rocked. I should have thrown it out and started again but instead I made more bad decisions and tried to find the place that caused the rocking. I even cut the sculpt. Nothing worked.
So we gave up and strapped it tight with one seam open a couple of mm's and did the top again.

Here's one thing that went right. For the last piece I couldn't take off the straps. With the buckle in the way I had to build a wall on one side.
It held the plaster just fine and we got the end poured for the second time.

After opening the mold I found more damage.
When the mold side slid as we turned it over it broke this off.

Not enough mold soap so the pieces stuck. This is at the eye. Once we can pour (in a month in the sun) I'll see if it can be used in some way.

He had a hard two days so he gets to soak in a nice bath.

At the end of day two.

At the end of mold II Dan did his happy dance while mopping because we are done making molds for now. He only did this with his good knee supporting him.

For mold II we poured all of these pieces. It may be possible, with lots of snakes and lots of hand work, to pour a tiki. I will clean it up and sand and carve on this mold to see what I can do with it. Too much work to give up.

When I try this mold out I will fill every seam with clay snakes and plug it with a bit of slip rotated before pouring it full. It will be an experiment to see what comes out.

Some days are good and some are not. We were too tired the second day and should have waited until I could think clearly. So today we will start on a new project and I'll have better photos tomorrow.

I'm so sorry you had all those problems with the second mold but thank you so much for taking us on that bumpy journey with you. If mistakes aren't made, we will never continue to learn. The Wendy & Dan show isn't just Show and Tell, it is like a really good PBS show; pretty to look at and informative too.

So sorry to hear about the mold #2 snafu. At least it came after the success of mold #1. That goes to show you how hard it is to do what you do! Thanks for sharing everything with us - the good, the bad and the ugly.
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Lori

Wendy, thanks (once again) for the visual lessons in mold-making, both for version 1 AND v2. Both are educational, and I look forward to (eventually) casting my way down slipcasting way. I'm sure I'll be searching back for your early lesson thread in mold-making along with these recent ones. Mistakes teach me even more than the other step-by-steps. So, I'm sorry #2 didn't work out so well, but if nothing else, Tiki Ano learned a little bit, so muchos mahalos!

Sorry I'll miss you guys at TC- working on a big work project that you guys can hopefully check out in the future.

Thank you to anyone who has voted to keep us on Cool and Current. I swear we have not voted for ourselves. I do know that GROG votes for us so I'll thank him with a big hug next time I see him.

littlegiles when I have really bad days I know that I'll have a good sharing day. It helps lessen the pain.

GROG there is one benefit to making molds. I get to see Dan non-stop and admire him for his willingness to help me. I never once said Dan-it that day. We both were ok because we knew we had one good mold made.

LoriLovesTiki- the good, the bad and the ugly, I just needed one more mold for the last name.

hang10tiki I hope that one mold will be enough. I have to see how long it needs to remain in the mold before it is strong enough to stand without slumping. Or maybe I'll lay him down when he comes out of the mold. Since he is so big I have to learn what works best. We will see you in a few days.

TikiAno I'm glad to help. If it weren't for Kingstiedye introducing me to Mike L. the master mold maker I may never have gotten to this point. That's why I decided that we all need to share information.

Progress Report:

The mold is drying. Just in case I'm wrong and I have to have two or more molds and need to start again I did some repairs to the original sculpt. If I need him I'll add the lettering and start again.

This shows the damage I inflicted on him trying to stop the rocking of the mold piece.
I added clay to the backside.
After I built it up I smoothed it out.
Now if I need him again I'll carve in the lettering and be good to go.

While the mold dries and the heads are shipped to new owners I can move on to other projects. Soon I'll begin a painting for Tiki Oasis 13 but for now I'll make a few Bobs for fun. So far I've done Rum Barrel Bob, Bob Woody, Mrs. Tiki Bob and lightning Bob.

Now showing Underwater Bob

He has waves of water,
two seahorses and a float.

Next up is Clam Up Bob he won't tell you the name of his insider drink.

When I have these finished I'll offer them here for sale. But if you want first chance at one just PM me. So far there is one PM for Mrs. Bob.

Thank you for your support which is very much appreciated. Every morning I look forward to reading your comments.
Sincerely, Wendy and Dan too

Too bad about mold #2. But you are very dedicated and persistent, so I know you will get it to work one way or another. The mug is looking great! I am jealous that you get to check out other peoples home bars during the Sacramento crawl. I need to see what others have done to get more ideas for my bar.

Wendy, looking great. Just so that you know, I believe Dan is a three letter word, not a four letter word, so thus, not a curse word. I suppose if you added a letter (on the front or back end) you CAN make DaNN a curse word, though I think he's just fine as is.

Okay, it's been a long day and I've been catching up on the Wendy & Dan show. And dreaming of making molds. And getting back to the ceramic studio (been a while for me, I have a longer commute than you guys!)

lunavideogames being with tiki people is always a great time. Our crawl is over the top good. We have made so many friends and always meet new people each year. I put mold #2 together again yesterday and looked inside. I think I may be able to get a cast. The front looks fine its just the squares down the side that broke off. I'll give it a try once it is dry. Thank you for the wishes.

hang10tiki I think we need some Koolaid.

tigertail777 wide bottoms keep them balanced. Also my mugs are all thick. So you noticed that there was no sagging. I worked hard on that bottom!

TikiAno you are right Dan is fine. I try to keep the show going. Sometimes I hoard a few photos so I don't run out if we take a day off. Don't tell. More Bob's today.

littlegiles thank you for the Bob mug idea. I will make it in the future.

Hale Tiki anticipaaaation! Rum Bob coming up.

Progress Report:

The molds have barly begun to dry. I'll have to put them in the garage as we leave for Tiki Caliente. We will be gone but I'll be checking in to read and comment. If you have any photos of where you have displayed mugs I've made or you have just gotten your severed head please post photos so my thread doesn't go dark! I'll beg again tomorrow.

Here's the new Peanut PNG mug.

Ukulele Bob
I started by carving out his hands and instrument from a flat piece of clay.

Hale Tiki you can see Rum Bob drying in the background. Here I've added a hand and it is supported by a lump of clay.

Now he can play a tune.

Here I covered the lump of clay with plastic so it wouldn't stick. I try to fix potential problems as I go along.

I added some simple rings around Bob.

The eight new Bob's together.

Now I need to get busy. The Tiki Caliente event is almost here. We take time to get the house ready for our sitter. No clay dust allowed for guests. I hope you like the new Bob's. Cheers, Wendy
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